III. Say how you understand the headline of the article. Dwell on the implication.

AN IDEAL LANGUAGE TEACHER: WHAT IS HE LIKE?

Few of those engaged in training teachers would conceive of a teacher who would be "ideal" for all and any teaching circumstances. The art and craft of teaching is so diverse that no such paragon would be likely to exist. What is possible, however, is to conceive of an ideal which is re-defined in terms of the particular kind of teaching situation the teacher actually proposes to engage in. Such an “ideal” teacher would possess personal qualities, technical abilities and professional understanding of the fol­lowing kinds:

1) Personal qualities. These include both inherent qualities and other qualities acquired through experience, education or training. Among the former we must recognize physical and psychological attributes. Equally, it is obvious that the teacher must be intelligent, have a "non-discouraging personality" and display emotional maturity. Among the acquired qualities are to be included a wide experience
of life, an adequate level of personal education and a sufficient command' of the language he is teaching.

2) Technical abilities. These are of three kinds: first, ability to discern and assess the progress and difficulties of his pupils; an unhesitating control of the teaching in his classes so as to maximise the rate of learning; secondly, a fluent and responsive grasp of classroom skills and techniques; and thirdly, a “creative familiarity" with the syllabus and materials being used in his classes, such that he can improve on them as occasion demands by devising his own materials.

3) Professional understanding. This refers to a sense of perspective that sees the teacher's own task in relation to all types of language learning/teaching situations, to an awareness of trends and developments in language teaching, and to an acceptance that it is in his professional duty to go on improving his professional effectiveness throughout his career.

Three different kinds of skills are required of the teacher:

a) Command of the language he or she is teaching. The teacher of a foreign language is the learner's model, especially as far as the spoken language is concerned, and if the teacher's command of the language is inadequate, the learner's achievements will be impaired. Learners, including children, have a pretty good general idea of their teacher's standard, even though they themselves may be complete beginners. It is a source of great discouragement for a learner to have a teacher whose command of the lang­uage is inadequate, who makes obvious errors in the classroom, who is uncertain about meanings and grammatical patterns, who has no confidence in his own grasp of the language. Consequently, the skills component of a teacher-training course must ensure that the teacher's command of English (or whatever language he is teaching) is at least adequate for classroom purpose. This ought to be a “make-or-break” requirement.

b) The 'management of learning'. Not every act of teaching is immediately effective. Sometimes a point is grasped by some learners in a class but not by others. Some individuals in a class learn more readily or rapidly than others. Sometimes an individual enters a period of faster learning, or goes through a patch of poor learning. It is a crucial part of the teacher's classroom skills to learn how to manage the classroom activity properly.

c) Finally, the teacher must have information about education, about different approaches to the task of teaching the language, about methodology. There must be information about the syllabus and materials he will be using. In a sense, the syllabus, the prescribed textbooks, the ancillary materials and the available aids make up the tools of the teacher's trade, acquired before he goes into his own classroom as a fully-fledged teacher.

(by Sarah Morrison

from "English Language Teaching",

№1, October, 1974)

SET WORK

I. Find in the article the English for:

Приобрести что-либо на основе опыта; соответствующий, отвечающий требованиям; достаточно хорошо владеть языком; оценивать успехи и определять трудности студентов; умения и приемы; тенденции в преподавании языка; ошибка (языковая); педагогика; методика; учебная программа; предписанный учебник; пособие; вспомогательный материал; опытный, зрелый преподаватель.

II. Explain in their context the following phrases:

§ re-defined in terms of the particular kinds of teaching situations;

§ to have a “non-discouraging personal­ity”;

§ the learner's achievements will be impaired;

§ a "creative familiarity" with the syllabus.

III. Answer the following questions:

1. What personal and technical abilities does the author of the article consider essential in a language teacher?

2. How far do you agree with this evaluation?

3. What would you call an "ideal" language teacher in terms of kindergarten/ school, teachers' training institute/ polytechnical institute?

4. What profession­al qualities do you think indispensable for a teacher?

5. What qualities do you think a language teacher can acquire through education and training? Are there any which you think to be inborn?

6. How can a for­eign language teacher improve his professional effectiveness throughout his career?

IV. Come out with a talk on any foreign language teacher you know, who may serve as an example of an "ideal", back up your opinion.

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